Toy building



May 29, 1928.. 1

A. F. BEMIS TOY BUILDING Filed'nec. 2, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheetl l Eiwei May29, 1928. l A. F.` BEMIS v TOY BUILDING 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 2,1925 i N j M Patented May 29, 192s.

UNITED sTfATEs PATENT oFFicE.

ALBERT F. BEMIS, F EWTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO BEMIS INDUSTRIES,

` INC., OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, .A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE,

TOY BUILDING.

Application nled December 2, 19275. Serial No. 72,677.

This invention relates to improvements. in'

- miniature buildings such as dog houses or houses of the type used formodels and displays by architects or builders,but more particularly totoy houses of different sizes anddesigns. m'

For this purpose I propose to provide a system of structural blocks orunits which lmay be used with a series of plans having Wall outlinesprinted thereon, and if desired, rugs, floors and other details offurniture or` the like. Toy houses built in accordance with my inventionmay be of a semi-permanent nature and adapted to endure a considerableexposure to the elements, the parts being designed so th-at they maybebound with cementitious material to render the structure more solid andWeather-tight.

A salient feature of the invention is the provision of interchangeablemeans Which may be combined .in various Ways to permit the erection ofhouses of different dimensions and shapes, and to suit various floor4Fig. 1 is a vertical section-through a Wall and a portion of a building;

Fig. 2 is a detail perspective;

Fig. 3 is a plan View of' a portion floor and base shown in Fig.` 1;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a portionv of a Wall assembly; Y l

Figs. 5, 6, 7, and 8y are perspective views of structural components; v

Fig. V-9 is aside elevation of a completed floor and roof of a toy of,the

toy building; and

Fig. 10 is an end elevation ofthe same; and

Figs. 11 and 12 are perspective views of component parts.

In the construction of a house or other building, in accordance with myinvention, a

base 1 is first provided to hold courses of blocks at varying locationsand distances.

upon which is a layer 2, which may preferably be of laminated Wood Withthe holes 3 therein at modular distances. Holes 3 correspond Wlth theholes 7 which are spaced from .each other at modular distances in thebuilding blocks 5 shown in Fig. 4. The blocks are preferably one modulein width '1n eachcase, and of varying lengths, but the length in eachcase is a certain definite number of modules. In certain eases theblocks mayY be only one module in length (Fig. 5), While in other casesthey are multiples of this length. i

'.Ihe base 1 constitutes a floor for the toy building and a base forcarrying it from place toplace; incertain installations, however, basc 1may be omitted and the Atoy structure built directly upon a floor, tableor the like.

To erect a buil-ding upon `the base 1, ties 4 'are set up to mark thecorners or intersections ot' Walls. These ties are-preferably of alength which will approximate the height of the Wall of a toy buildingand they tit into holes at the ends of blocks set up to define theintersecting Walls, blocks ini alternatecourses of whichl overlap eachother as shown in Figs. 4 and 9. Intermediate the cornersthe blocks maybe assembled in any desired manner, as in broken courses like -ordinarybriclrwork, and they' Aare preferably fastened together by short ties 8,each having a length approximately equaltotwo courses of blocks. Theholes 7 in the blocks have a rough surface and the ties 4 and 8similarly have rough surfaces, the ties fitting into the holes with afairly -tirm fit, but being designed to permit the application of anadhesive, such as plaster ot' Paris or gypsum, to cement the unitsrather firmly together when a semi-permanent construct-ion is desired.The door frames 10 and window frames 11 are preformed and areeachadapted to be installed in the Walls at the desired points.

. At the top of each side wall preferably is provided a'. course ofgirtblocks 12 which l' are rabbeted at 13 to engage thefedges of floorslabs 19, while similar blocks may or may not be used for the girt,course at the ends of the building. Holes in the girt blocks havesemi-circular continuations 6 along the side of the rabbets 13, whichare adapted to register `with semi-circular notches 9 in floor slabs 19,thus forming recesses for ties` 8. Blocks 12 are 'suitably 'in Fig. 12,lcertam of the slabs having notches at their sides to engage ties` 8 andothers having longer sides without notches.

At the corner of the girt course of blocks is disposed a square unit 14,the floor slabs at the. corners being suitably notched to engage thisblock. In order to permit the construction of buildings of differentwidths the Afloor beam 33 may be formed of separate parts, asillustrated more particularly in Fig. 8, in which the two similar parts2() and 21 are shown connected by a tie 22,y which is slidably engagedin an opening in the end of one of the members, as member 20, and isfirmly inset in the end of the other member. The provision of parts 20,21 of' a few different lengths permits the forming of beams having aWide variety of lengths.

Girt strips 23 of celluloid or thin fibre board are'provided with holesspaced to coordinate with the holes in the blocks 12. These strips maybe laid along above the girt blocks to tie them firmly together .andthey may also be placed yupon the beams 33 to hold the arts thereoffirmly together, the holes in strips 23 being engaged by the ends ofties 8 or 17.

The rafters 30 are quite similar to the oor Vbeams except that theirends `are bevelled to fit upon the girt course of blocksv and edges ofthe' floor, these bevelled surfaces being recessed to engage ties 4 or 8extending upwardly from the Wall Vstructure.`

Rafters 30 may be variable in length, in the manner above described withreference to the floor beams, inorder to permit the construction ofvroofs of different dimensions.

- In order to reduce the number of different parts required to theminimum, I prefer to have the pitch o f the roof standardized at one ortwo different angles. I am thus able vto provide sets of blocks 32 withtheir ends suitably bevelled to fit the lower surface of the roof uponeither end of the building and likewise it is necessary to provide onlyone or two sets of rafters 3 0. The rafters 30 at their upper'endsengage a ridge 35 of the cross-sectional form shown in Fig. 1, which hasthe inclined surfaces 36 and 37 to engage the bottoms and ends ofrafters 30.

'various types.

The ridge may be solid, or it may be variable in length similarly to thefloor beams. If desired, the ends of the vridge may be extended in theform shown in Fig. 10 at the i tops of the end walls, or blocks of theform there shown may be used at this point. 38 extending for aportion ofthe depth of the rafters are provided for engagement with ties 39 whichpass through openings formed by registering semi-circular recesses inthe roof slabs 40 and into recesses 41 in the outer rafters or ribmembers 45. The roof slabs 40 are provided with interengaging rabbetedlongitudinal edges to provide approximately weather-tight constructionkfor joints between 'consecutive rows of/roof slabs are covered by therib.members 45 which may be variable in length as described abovewithreference to the floor beams and main rafters, but which preferablyare provided in various lengths to suit different sizes of roofs.' Theupper ends of rib members 45 are bevelled at a suitable angle to enablethe? to form a firm joint at the ridge of the roo If desired to erect asemi-permanent construction of this nature such as a dog house, birdlhouse or the like, such a material as plaster of Paris or gypsum may beapplied to the various pegs or ties, to the edges of the roof slabs, andto the rib members etc. to seal the parts firmly together in order toform a semi-permanent weather tight structure.

Obviousl the various units which have been descri ed may be combined ina wide variety of ways to provide buildings of If desired, buildings ofmore than one story may be erected, and additions or modifications suchas ells, flatroofs, stairways, chimneys, steps and many otheraccessories may be readily incorporated in the structure or addedthereto to suit the individual wishes and fancies of the user. Paperfloor plans to be placed upon the basev 1 may be provided withindications of the locations of walls, ties etc. and may haverepresentations of rugs etc. thereon, if desired.

I claim:

1. A system of units for the construction of toy buildings, including aseries of vblocks having holes therein at modular distances, slabs-having semi-circular notches in their edges .at modular distances ormultiples of the same, beams having holes at distances corresponding tothe distances of the notches in the `slabs and holes at their ends andpins designed to tie the blocks together andto tie the slabs to theholes in Holes the, roof. These slabs are nominally designed to extendbetween two rafters and the the beams land to tie the ends of the beamsto the blocks.

2. In a system of units for the construea series of blocks ada ted to becombined to v provide buildings o dilerent dimensions,

slabs having semi-circular notches at their edges, beams of variablelength with holes' spaced to correspond with the notches and with holesat their ends, pins for engaging the notches in the lslabs'and the holesin the beams whereby a floor or the like may be provided for buildingsof dileren't sizes and pins for the holes in the ends of the beams tosecure them to walls formed by the blocks.

v 3. In a system of structural units for a toy house or the like,rabbeted blocks designed to :term a girt strip, holes-in the blocks withsemi-circular continuations along the sides of the rabbets`,zfloor slabsenaging in the rabbets, semi-circular notches m the floor slabs, tiesengaging the holes and 4the semi-circular notches to hold the slabs andgirt blocks'together.

4. In a system of structural units for a toy house or the like, rabbetedblocks de-` signed to form a girt strip, holes in the blocks withsemi-circular continuations along the side of the rabbets, floor slabsengaging in the rabbets, semi-circular notches 1n the floor slabs,4tiesen aging the holes and the semi-circular notc les to hold the slabsv andgirt blocks together, and a girt strip enga ing the` tops of the ties.

Signed me at Boston, Massachusetts, this 30th day of October, 1925.

ALBERT F. BEMIS.

